Report Highlights Risks, Rewards of Starting a Business

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

NewsTimes.com – They may be young and small, but collectively they are a force to be reckoned with in the overall economy.

They are startups, and they account for one-third of all small businesses and a large portion of innovation and productivity, according to the Report on Startup Firms, the second in a series of reports based on the 2016 Small Business Credit Survey. Conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and released last week, the report defines startups as small businesses that were five years or younger in 2016 and had full- or part-time employees.

UConn Innovation Quest: Dermatat

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

CTStartup Podcast– Tattoos were once considered taboo and the realm of weirdos and ne’er-do-wells, but in the 21st century body ink has gone mainstream. Alas, that also means a number of tattoos done in questionable taste, and despite many wonders of modern medicine, the only current treatment for tattoo removal is both painful and expensive.

But what if tattoo removal was as simple as applying a band-aid? That’s the idea behind Dermatat, a concept straight out of UConn’s Innovation Quest business incubator. Tune in to check out what could be the next revolution in the tattoo industry.

Accounting Student Wins $10,000 Scholarship

Posted on by Claire Hall
Ashley Uliasz '17 is currently working towards her Master of Science in Accounting at UConn. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Ashley Uliasz ’17 is currently working towards her Master of Science in Accounting at UConn. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Award Will Be ‘A Tremendous Help’ to MSA Student Ashley Uliasz ’17

UConn alumna and current Master of Science in Accounting (MSA) student Ashley Uliasz ’17 has been awarded a $10,000 scholarship, one of the largest grants received by a UConn accounting student.Continue Reading

Manufacturing Enters Era of Artificial Intelligence

Posted on by Robert Day

Industry 4.0 concept

UConn’s MEM Program Gives Students Unique Mix of Business, Engineering Skills for Technology Revolution

In just the past seven or so years, the world of manufacturing has inaugurated the next phase of its own evolution with a new set of guiding principles known as “Industry 4.0.” Just as the transitions from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age to the Iron Age marked periods of radical, sweeping advances for the human species, Industry 4.0 marks the next, drastically different epoch of production technology. Continue Reading

Puerto Rico’s Debt Dilemma and Pathways Toward Sovereign Solvency

Posted on by Nancy White

American Business Law Journal, Vol. 54, No. 1, 2017

Stephen Park

Puerto Rico, as a quasi-sovereign U.S. territory, is confronting a debt crisis of unparalleled legal complexity. This article analyzes the collective action problems in sovereign debt finance in the context of Puerto Rico’s quasi-sovereign debt dilemma. We examine how sovereign debtors engage with their private creditors in the absence of a formal bankruptcy regime and show how various legal incentives, imperatives, and constraints shape the degree and form of creditor engagement. Drawing on this conceptual framework, this article analyzes the role of these factors in the market-based debt restructuring by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and hypothesizes how these factors may influence the statutory restructuring process underway under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). Despite the idiosyncratic aspects of Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, the potential pathways for debtor-creditor cooperation in Puerto Rico provide valuable insights on the various ways that law influences debtor-creditor cooperation in sovereign debt finance beyond the enforcement of state-based public regulation and contract-based private legal commitments. Full article.

Using Proactive Legal Strategies for Corporate Environmental Sustainability

Posted on by Nancy White

Berger-Walliser, G., Shrivastava, P., Sulkowski, A. Using Proactive Legal Strategies for Corporate Environmental Sustainability. 6 Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law, 1-36 (2016). Date Published: June 2017

Gerlinde Berger-Walliser

We argue that proactive law can help organizations be more sustainable. Toward that end, this Article first summarizes proactive law literature as it pertains to corporate sustainability. Next, it examines a series of cases on the pivotal nexus between proactive law and corporate sustainability. It then advances novel propositions that connect proactive law to central organizational design elements. The discussion traces further implications and suggests fruitful avenues for research and ways of using proactive law for firms to become more sustainable. Full article.

Mansfield Man Eyes New Ways To Take Macro Photos

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

Hartford Courant – In high school science classes in Pennsylvania, Mark Smith used just a standard, tabletop microscope to magnify the samples of minerals and rocks that would inspire him to become a geologist.

But in his free time, the teenager was helping to build a much more powerful device — a macro photography system that could compete with the best on the market to produce ultra-high resolution, full-color images of the tiniest things on Earth.

Recent MIS Graduate Lands Dream Job at Sony Music

Posted on by Claire Hall
Maggie Quackenbush in the office during her first week at Sony Music. (Maggie Quackenbush)
Maggie Quackenbush in the office during her first week at Sony Music. (Maggie Quackenbush)

Maggie Quackenbush ’17 Joins New, Two-Year Rotational Program for Recent Graduates Interested in Information Systems and Technology

Maggie Quackenbush ’17 happily accepted a job at Sony Music because she can leverage her management information systems degree and learn something new every day. Continue Reading

CT’s Recession Lasted Much Longer Than You Think

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

Hartford Business Journal – While many people consider the Great Recession to have lasted only two years, Connecticut’s economic malaise lasted much longer. In fact, measured by real output or gross state product, Connecticut’s economy actually shrank for seven years, even as the state regained jobs lost during the Great Recession.